Hollywood actor Steven Seagal now Russian envoy
- by Antoinette Erickson
- in Entertaiment
- — Aug 6, 2018
Seagal was granted Russian citizenship in 2016 and has praised President Putin as a great world leader.
But on Saturday, Russia honored Seagal again, this time with a position as a special envoy to the United States.
In an announcement posted to Facebook, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Seagal's function will be to "facilitate relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field, including cooperation in culture, arts, public and youth exchanges".
"It's a case of people's diplomacy intersecting with traditional diplomacy", the ministry said of the appointment, likening Seagal's role to that of a United Nations goodwill ambassador.
President Putin is also a fan of the kind of martial arts that Seagal often practiced in his Hollywood action movies.
"I've always had a very strong desire to do all I can to help improve Russian-American relations", RT quoted Seagal. 'I have worked tirelessly in this direction for many years unofficially and I am now very grateful for the opportunity to do the same thing officially'.
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Mr. Seagal, 66, did not immediately return a message seeking comment. In his first big role in the 1988 movie Above the Law, Seagal played a former Central Intelligence Agency agent, and in one of his latest films, Mercenary: Absolution, he played a contract killer. Seagal once referred to Putin as "one of the great living world leaders".
As for Russian and United States relations now, things are a bit contentious, to say the least.
Long before Seagal and Putin became buds, the dual citizen tried in jest to influence the Russian president's reputation overseas.
Seagal's new role was noted by Kremlin-backed TV station RT, who noted Seagal as welcoming the appointment.
In a video of the event, Putin and Seagal shake hands. Seagal has said that it's "stupid" to think that Russian Federation or any other country has the technology to tamper with voting.
